Insomniac Games
Insomniac Games is a video game developer based out of Burbank, California. While primarily known as a developer of Sony exclusives, Insomniac Games is an entirely independent developer and always has been since its founding in 1994 by Ted Price, along with Brian and Alex Hastings. The company's first title, ''Disruptor'', released in 1996 for the original PlayStation and was a mild success, but the development house would not find mainstream success until the introduction of Spyro the Dragon in 1998, for which Insomniac would develop the first three titles for, once again exclusively for Sony's PlayStation. After leaving Spyro behind in 2000, Insomniac moved on to the PlayStation 2. Two titles were scrapped during development before Insomniac decided on their next title, Ratchet & Clank, which would be the only series Insomniac would develop games for during the sixth console generation. In 2006, Insomniac took a dramatic turn in tone with their new IP for the then new PlayStation 3, ''Resistance''. Whereas Spyro the Dragon and Ratchet & Clank were relatively tame and family friendly, Resistance ''saw the human race fighting against extinction at the hands of an alien virus known as the Chimera. ''Resistance also saw much more of a focus on storytelling than Insomniac's previous games. This shift in story-focus also began to bleed into the Ratchet & Clank series, which, with the beginning of what would be known as the "Future Saga," began to have a story arc lasting for more than one adventure, beginning with 2007's ''Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction'''' and ending with 2009's ''Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time ''with an epilogue added in the form of 2013's ''Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus. Insomniac would establish a secondary location in Durham, North Carolina in 2008. This location would develop the three Ratchet & Clank titles following A Crack in Time. In 2011, after the release of ''Resistance 3'', Insomniac sought to broaden their horizons and attract new fans by way of moving away from Sony exclusivity and taking a strong stance on owning the IPs that the company created, as Disruptor and Spyro the Dragon were owned by Universal Interactive, now Activision-Blizzard, and Ratchet & Clank and Resistance are owned by Sony Computer Entertainment. This drive would eventually come to fruition in the from of Outernauts in 2012 and Fuse in 2013. Insomniac has held fast to this new directive, with every new IP to come out of the studio since then being held in Insomniac's control. A surprise announcement came at E3 of 2016 when it was revealed that Insomniac Games would be developing a ''Spider-Man'' video game exclusively for the PlayStation 4. This marked the first time in Insomniac's history that the company would work on an IP not of their own creation. Games Cancelled games * ''Monster Knight'''' ''- Insomniac's first project after Spyro: Year of the Dragon. The game was to feature an anthropomorphic cat-like protagonist named Madi in a medieval fantasy setting, similar to that of Spyro. In Monster Knight, Madi would be able to capture monsters and use them as equipment. The project was ultimately scrapped due to the difficulty of implementing the myriad of monsters planned for the game. * ''Girl With A Stick'''' ''- The second project to be shelved by Insomniac Games. This title was to feature the titular girl with a stick collecting items in an adventure game archetype similar to one found in The Legend of Zelda. The concept was ultimately scrapped due to the developers just not feeling that the game was very good or fun. * ''1080Pinball'''' - 1080Pinball'' was a high-definition pinball simulator in development for the PlayStation Network. Not much is known about the title or its cancellation, save for that Insomniac Games sought to make it the most realistic pinball simulator ever. Related works * The Adventures of Captain Starshield ''- A short webcomic featuring the titular Captain Starshield. The comic serves as a prequel to ''Ratchet: Deadlocked and explains how Starshield found himself captured by DreadZone. * ''Resistance'''' ''- A comic book mini-series that started its release with the release of Resistance 2, which included issue #0 with its Collector's Edition. * ''Ratchet & Clank'''' ''- A comic book mini-series taking place shortly after the end of Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time. The comic features Ratchet and Clank investigating the disappearance of several planets around the universe. The comic also touches on some plot points left by A Crack in Time and features writing by then Ratchet & Clank ''series writer TJ Fixman. * ''The Ratchet & Clank Collection - A compilation of the original three Ratchet & Clank video games, ported to the PlayStation 3 by Idol Minds. The ports feature improved texture resolution and full trophy support, as per the standard for the PS3. * ''Ratchet: Deadlocked HD'''' ''- A port of Ratchet: Deadlocked released on the PS3. Like the Ratchet & Clank Collection, it was ported by Idol Minds. The port once again features improved texture resolution and full trophy support. * ''Ratchet & Clank'''' ''- The film that served as the basis for Ratchet & Clank on the PlayStation 4. The film serves as an adaptation of the original PlayStation 2 video game, albeit with several changes to characters and events. * ''Spyro Reignited Trilogy'''' ''- Remakes of the Insomniac-developed Spyro video games for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Developed by Toys for Bob and Sanzaru Games. Engines Owned *Insomniac Engine v.1.0 *Insomniac Engine v.2.0 *Insomniac Engine v.3.0 *Insomniac Engine v.4.0 *''Ratchet & Clank'' Aid *''Kinetica''